Set in the times of the Tudors, this tale is one of daring adventure by land and sea. “It involves the slaughter of a retainer of the Spanish ambassador in the opening scene, and the escape of an Anglo-Jewish merchant from the Spanish inquisition in the last. The fortunes of the Jew’s daughter—who has been abducted, by a nobleman in the train of De Ayala, the ambassador, and is pursued across the sea by her lover, brave Peter Brome, and his comrades—form the main thread of the story. Incidentally we meet with many well-fancied types of militant and ecclesiastical humanity, with effective portraits of monarchs and great men.” (Ath.)
“There is a reminiscence of Kingsley in much of the story, but Mr. Haggard has no master in this brightly conceived and deftly executed drama of action.”
| + | Ath. 1907, 2: 362. S. 28. 170w. |
“In incompetent hands, a plot for a dime novel and nothing more; but Mr. Haggard has the craft of a born stage manager ... and sends us away with the feeling that we have witnessed a big, spectacular show that was eminently worth while.” Frederic Taber Cooper.
| + | Bookm. 26: 408. D. ’07. 360w. |
“It is all as vigorous, circumstantial, and imaginative as Mr. Haggard can make it; but the effect is often marred by the effort to combine simplicity of diction with a flavour of Tudor English.”
| + − | Lond. Times. 6: 301. O. 4, ’07. 450w. |
“But notwithstanding all its many excellencies, Mr. Haggard’s work does not belong on the high levels of fictional art. There is none of that rich and satisfying quality which invests the pages of novelists who deal with the inner forces of character and temperament.”
| + − | N. Y. Times. 12: 743. N. 23, ’07. 1140w. |